Share

CEO Tshediso Matona: No crisis at Eskom

Johannesburg - The country is not experiencing a power supply crisis, Eskom said on Monday.

"There is no crisis at Eskom. I think the way Eskom gets reported on creates the perception of a crisis," CEO Tshediso Matona told reporters in Johannesburg.

Matona said the power utility needed financial stability and additional power to make sure electricity supply was reliable.

READ: Eskom load shedding briefing - as it happened

Eskom sold power cheaply.

"We sell electricity below cost compared to other countries. We have spoken about this before... It is a matter of policy implementation, which we do not do ourselves."

Eskom did not anticipate implementing its stage three schedule of rolling blackouts again this month, he said.

"We will probably not go into stage three from this difficult patch, but that will rely on additional power capacity going forward," Matona said.

Stage one allows for up to 1000MW of the national load to be shed, stage two for up to 2000MW and stage three for up to 4000MW.

Matona earlier apologised for recent power blackouts.

"The events were completely unexpected, especially on Thursday and Friday," he said.

Stage two blackouts went into action on Thursday and stage three on Friday.

Eskom was doing everything possible to manage the outages, Matona said.

"It really pains us to have to load shed. We know the public is not pleased."

He said a complete blackout would spell disaster for the country.

READ:Matona: Complete blackout is not an option

"We load shed out of responsibility... A complete blackout would be catastrophic and can take weeks to recover from."

He said the power system would remain tight until the Medupi and Kusile power stations started producing power, probably in 12 to 18 months.

Medupi was expected to be on line by December 24.

"We may not meet the target, and could see Medupi coming online in early January.

"We expect to see full power production from Medupi within six months thereafter."

Work on getting the Majuba station in Mpumalanga to full capacity was continuing.

"An average of 1800 megawatts is being fed to the national grid per day. Following the collapse of a silo, five units are running fully," he said.

Majuba was able to generate 2900MW during peak periods.

READ: Yelland's 15-point plan for Eskom to solve crisis

Group executive Matshela Koko said he led an investigation into the collapse of the silo at Majuba.

"Majuba is urgent... yes, we had a second crack at Majuba, and we will soon take the public into [our] confidence," Koko said.

Matona said the blackouts had also affected customers in neighbouring countries.

"There is a perception that we load shed but continue supplying neighbours with electricity. That is not so, cross-border customers are also affected."

Matona said electricity supply was expected to be constrained in February and March because of budgetary constraints.

"Our financial director is looking at options in this regard," he said.

The power supply would depend on the availability of diesel during the period.

Eskom used 140 million litres of diesel to produce power in November.

"We have had situations during this past week where the ordering of diesel was delayed due to budget constraints," said Matona.

"Sometimes, in terms of logistics, things do not go smoothly between us, PetroSA and other suppliers," he said.



* Read our full coverage on load shedding.

* Share your views via email about #loadshedding24

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.0%
Rand - Pound
23.91
-0.0%
Rand - Euro
20.41
+0.1%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.33
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.0%
Platinum
908.05
+1.2%
Palladium
1,014.94
0.0%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders